Asagi Honzan I

This Awase, or Honzan, has good hardness but it is not
overly hard. When honing, the feedback is very clear and easy to interpret. The
size is impressive, and it’s a fairly heavy and dense stone also.

This stone has a fissure that runs from what you see in the
photo as the top right corner, down along the long side in front, and along the
bottom of the left side. The fissure seemed to be stable; tapping on the stone
over the fissure with a hammer didn’t do anything. I sealed the stone with 4
layers of very thin lacquer; the first two coats were extremely thin and they penetrated
the fissure well. The next two layers were a bit thicker and you have to really
look to see the fissure line; but it’s there.

Originally – I wasn’t going to take this stone but my
contact assured me that it is a good quality stone and worth the effort. I
believe he is correct – I’ve honed a number of razors on this stone and it’s
quite nice to work with. After I decided that there was nothing to be concerned
with – I figured I’d use this as my daily bench stone and I’ve been working
with it a lot; it’s turned out to be a very consistent stone.

Most stones have some sort of liability or distraction. I
usually stay away from those with issues that present problems when honing
razors. The fissure on this one though, it’s out of the way and runs along the
bottom and it’s entirely possible that it is a superficial fissure that only
penetrates a millimeter or two from the surface. Of course, that’s a guess and I
can’t predict the future; but my feeling is that it’ll be fine for many lifetimes
and possibly forever.

The top is lapped, the edges are chamfered and the sides and
bottom are sealed.